Manchester City could potentially be without two of their centre backs when they welcome Leicester City to the Etihad on Sunday.
The Sky Blues are in a good run of form having won their last two games. That included a 2-1 win over Bournemouth in the midweek Carabao Cup clash, which saw a number of youngsters take to the field. On Sunday, many familiar names will return, but others will still be missing owing to injury concerns.
One selection headache (our starting XI prediction can be found at this link) that manager Pep Guardiola might have to deal with is the unavailability of two of his centre backs. Aymeric Laporte is recovering from COVID-19 and Nicolas Otamendi has a niggle. This could see John Stones or Fernandinho partner up with Nathan Ake on Sunday.
Apart from this, there are few more long-term injuries that the Citizens will have to contend with. The quartet of Sergio Aguero, Bernardo Silva, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Joao Cancelo are all out for an extended period of time. Joining them on the sidelines is German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who recently tested positive for the Coronavirus.
Despite being without many first-choice players, we should still see a strong City side take the field on Sunday. There is plenty enough firepower in the team with players like Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling.
If they can get going, Leicester are going to find it extremely difficult to contain them. It is important for the Manchester side to keep up pace at the top of the table or else this could ultimately be a repeat of last season.
It is crucial to take maximum points out of the home games against all the top sides like the Foxes. It will be hard to do so, in the absence of big names such as Aguero, but they do have the depth and personnel for the job.
Leicester are picking up from where they left off last season, as they have made a strong start to this season. With two wins from two, they sit at the top of the table, but Manchester City would surely like to do something about that this weekend.
If recent history is to go by, this will be an interesting matchup and both teams will be keen on taking maximum points, making for an entertaining game.